On March 14, 2017 Manohar Parrikar  took oath as the Chief Minister of the State for the fourth time despite his party losing heavily in the ensuing Assembly polls with the help of alliance partners – MGP, Goa Forward and independents.

Many had written off the alliance saying it would not last even 100-days given the fact that Goa Forward’s Vijai Sardessai and Independent Rohan Khaunte were his leading critics in the assembly.

While 100 days is too small a timeframe to judge a government which has got the mandate to rule for 5 years, there have been some decisions and incidents since March 14 which show that Parrikar indeed means business while others reveal that he also needs to guard against certain pitfalls.

In the last 100 days Parrikar has not only been able to keep the flock together but has also managed to a certain extent undo the wrongs by previous government led by Laxmikant Parsekar and draw a roadmap to take “Goa Forward”.

Seriously, while the new ministers have shown enthusiasm in their approach to their new job, Parrikar has been busy pacifying the alliance partners and taking a re-look at the past decisions.

The Goa Forward Party, led by Vijai Sardesai, which opposed many decisions by then CM Laxmikant Parsekar, has been able to get most of its demands met with the CM.

Keeping alliance happy

The alliance partners have not only got their demands met but have also got chunk of portfolios and corporation.

While MGP has got the plum portfolios of PWD, Transport, Tourism and GSIDC, Goa Forward has TCP, WRD, Fisheries, Agriculture, Housing, RDA etc. Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte has theplum portfolio of Revenue and IT.

 Surprise visits

Ministers Vinod Palyekar, Rohan Khaunte, Vijai Sardesai and Parrikar himself have paid surprise visits to their respective departments and caught the staff off-guard and missing. Their approach has somewhat created a scare amongst the government staff.

CMP

The CMP was the much-talked about as the alliance partners had announced they would get the chief minister to revert the past controversial decisions.

Withdrawing controversial amendment to the Tree Act

Goa Forward has got the CM to take a decision to revert the ithdrawing the controversial amendment to the Goa Preservation of Trees (amendment) Act 2016, that declassified coconut as tree by categorizing it as palm during the then Laxmikant Parsekar-led government. Moreover, government has also announced giving Coconut the status of State Tree.

Shifting Casinos

The government  is still not emphatic and clear about this. On the much debated off-shore casinos issue, that saw BJP-led coalition cornered on various occasions during its past tenure, the CMP has decided to formulate and implement policy on the floating casinos - currently anchored in River Mandovi – to shift them to an alternate location. But the decision to do this was taken a couple of years ago  and none of the casinos have moved an inch 

IPB

In the category of investment and employment, the government has decided to review all cases approved by the Investment Promotion Board to ensure it is in tune with the State Investment Policy.

“Necessary amendments to the IPB Act will be made to make Goa truly an investor friendly State by facilitating single window clearances for all proposals. It will generate employment for locals,” Parrikar said. 

Tourism policy

Again, a broad generalised statement has been made, which itself does not say much. The CMP states that the Tourism Policy will be modified to ensure high employment and employability of local youth. 

Regional Plan 2030

A pragmatic view has been taken but a clear road map and  no breakable deadline needs  to be in place. The CM has stated that Regional Plan for 2030 will be taken up taluka-wise for completion after policy is in place, however clarifying that RP 2021 is not scrapped.

“The main important RP will be drafted based on a clear cut land use policy. Then previous draft RP will be the principal RP on how a particular land would be put to use… this is a revolutionary thinking which is being discussed. We expect to consolidate on this by July,” he added.  This too needs more clarity a stakeholders are unclear as to the manner in which RP 2021 will continue to  the principal RP for a 2030 plan

Support to traditional businesses

In another initiative, the government aims at establishing support mechanism to provide Goan food items like rice, pav, coconuts, fish, etc to the local population by modifying Griha Aadhar Scheme. 

Garbage free Goa

With an aim to make Goa garbage free by 2022, Parrikar further assured to set up waste management facilities along with all requisite support system to segregate and college garbage. The government had recently constituted Goa Waste Management Corporation to tackle the garbage menace. 

Medium of Instruction

The coalition has decided to continue with the current policy on the Medium of Instruction (MOI) which means grants to 137 Diocesan-backed schools will not be stalled. 

“There won’t be any change on MOI policy. Focus will be on quality education,” CM Manohar Parrikar .